1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sealed roll bearing of a roll which has neck sleeves of high strength, preferably shrunk onto the roll necks of the roll, wherein the flanges of a profiled sealing ring sealingly engage over the end portions of the neck sleeve facing the end faces of the roll bodies and at least over portions of the end phases of the roll bodies.
2. Description of the Related Art
The stress areas of a roll which are located between the roll necks supported by the bearings and the end faces of the roll bodies are kept free of aggressive rolling media and also essentially free of oil emerging from the bearings by means of sealing assemblies proposed in the past which sealingly engage over the neck sleeves of the bearings as well as over the end faces of the roll bodies.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,673 discloses sealing rings which are shrunk onto projections of the neck sleeves, wherein the sealing rings are pretensioned, if necessary, by means of sealing elements, against the end faces of the roll bodies. These sealing rings have the disadvantage that, in the case of relative bending movements between the roll necks and the roll body caused by the rolling force, the sealing rings do not participate in these bending movements at least in the area of the contact surfaces with the end face of the roll body, so that gaps may be formed through which aggressive rolling media may reach into the stress area of the roll.
When the sealing rings are shrunk onto the projections of the neck sleeves, the sealing rings change their dimensions not only in radial direction, but they also shrink in axial direction. Consequently, microscopically small gaps may be formed between the end faces of the roll bodies and the sealing ring flanges resting against the end faces of the roll bodies already during the assembly of the sealing rings, wherein the aggressive rolling medium can easily reach the stress area of the roll necks through these gaps.
By shrinking the sealing rings onto portions of the neck sleeves, these neck sleeve portions are pressed against the roll necks or the tension areas of the roll. As a result of the relative bending movement described above and this pressing action, high stresses may occur in the tension area of the roll between the roll and the pretensioned neck sleeves, so that pitting formations cannot be excluded.
In order to eliminate this disadvantage, it has already been proposed to screw the sealing ring flanges located opposite the end faces of the roll bodies to the end faces. However, it has been found that the sealing rings, which are shrunk-on one side and screwed-on on the other side, do not participate the above-described bending movements in the stress area of the roll neck. Because of the tensions occurring as a result in the sealing rings, the screws have been elongated and the screw heads were partially torn off or sheared off.